Wrestling with Israel

The following is in response to a short essay question on the application to HUC's rabbinical program.
As a living, evolving movement, Reform Judaism has the potential—perhaps more so than other movements—to affect how Jews think about Israel. The state of Israel represents a pinnacle moment in Jewish history. The reality of Israel represents a shift in the Jewish national psyche—from scars and victimization to self-determination and national sovereignty. For the first time since antiquity, there is a Jewish country! We sometimes don’t even fully appreciate the gravity of this statement! It’s the displaced family back under their own roof. It’s the shards of vessels reassembled. It represents an opportunity to live-out the Jewish ideal—where we seek justice, where we sanctify time, where we nurture our relationships, where we value intellect, learning, and creativity.

Many Diaspora Jews have lost sight of this ideal. As the largest and most liberal American movement, Reform Judaism is poised to change how Israel and the Diaspora interact. From conversations with students, young Jewish friends, colleagues in Hillel, campers and staff at Reform Jewish camps, and with my own family, I’ve seen the conflicted feelings American Jews have about Israel. My mom, when she thinks about Israel, feels heartache. During the second Lebanon war, she told me how sad she was that so many people—Israeli and Lebanese—had to die so senselessly. My coworker at Hillel thinks of herself as pro-Israel, but then immediately cites the Arab-Israeli she knows who sends his children to Israeli schools because the Arabic-speaking schools are so underfunded.

Jewish leaders need to learn to understand the ambivalence of American Jews not as a threat but as an opportunity. Learning about and wrestling with Israel is a strong Jewish identity-building tool. Israel, by its very existence, offers the opportunity to engage in conversations that are important to Jews no matter where they live. Questions like: Who decides who is and who isn’t a Jew? What does it mean to be patriotic? Am I first a Jew, first an American, or first a citizen of the world? What level of religious practice will I adopt for my family? How do the stories of my parents and my grandparents affect who I am today?

If Jewish leaders want to make Israel relevant, they must find ways to bring precisely these questions to the forefront of Israel education. Rabbis, educators, and communal professionals must not try to rationalize or distract from the issues their constituents feel about Israel. Rather, they must embrace those issues and use them as opportunities for self-exploration. If Arabic-speaking schools are underfunded, let’s use this issue as a launch pad for serious discussion on the Jewish ethic of education. Let’s use our curiosity to explore disparities within our own school districts. Let’s support organizations that promote universal education, like Urban Arts and Books for Africa. Let’s work to make education in Israeli schools more equal across the board, not just between Israelis and Arabs, but across the social classes.

The Reform rabbi—as teacher, as model—must recognize the value of questioning. We must not ignore the challenges Israel presents, but rather embrace them as opportunities to better our world. Like our forefather Jacob, for whom our people are named, we must give ourselves a little room to wrestle.